OCR Text |
Show THcEJLRr MAGNUM, Scientific Consultant iSPS THE MYSTERY OF BOX 218. THF pystem at the Holborn Safe Deposit is extremely simple and is (or was) reckoned perfect. For a couple of guineas a year you rent a strongbox in the vault, in itself surrounded by such foundations of stee! and concrete as would make dynamite feel dubious. The single entrance to the vault ib via a steel grille, the openings open-ings of the lattice-work allowing a clear view of the whole interior. The key to this grille is in the possession of a uniformed commissionaire, who watches while you transfer valuables to or from your "strongbox. And access to the commissionaire is via another locked gate, of which the key is held by the secretary of the company, on duty during business hours. In "order to rea'h the vault, every caller has therefore to pass the secretary, the locked gate, the commissionaire, and the locked grille. During the night a watchman keeps guard. Up to the day when the managing director of the cbmpanv called on Magnum, Mag-num, the system of the Safe Deposit had worked with oil-smooth perfection. There had been no "incidents," no complaints, no suggestion of unreliability. unreliabil-ity. The reputation of the Safe Deposit De-posit stood as high, in its respective line, as the Bank of England's. Pleydell, tho managing director, had little 'to do but sifjn checks for the salaries sal-aries of thestaft of three and him- self. His real activities lay with rjank directorates. He was a man of solidity solid-ity both financial and physical and his name was usually prominent on the lists of Mansion House funds and other .iationaI charities. "I wish to state," he began, "that the matter I have to place before you is extremely confidential." There was a quintessence of board-room manner about Pleydell. Magnum nodded brusquely. "I'm a safe deposit for clients' secrets," he answered. "That is not a very happy analogv, Mr. Magnum. I am very much afraid there is some loophole in our system. Vesterda v. it seemed impossible; but today, af'ter all the evidence I've heard I want you to realize that the reputation repu-tation of a safe deposit company has to be beyond suspicion like Caesar 's wife, beyond suspicion." "If my memory of Roman history is correct,' put in Magnum, "that analogy anal-ogy is also somewhat unhappy. ' ' Pleydell did not approve of jesting inside business hours. "Be that as it may," he answered stiffly, "I am extremely ex-tremely anxious to avoid publicity. If a breath of scandal affecting us should reach the newspapers it would .be a very serious matter. That is why 1 am not at present calling in the services ser-vices of the police. They are too much in touch with the reporters. No doubt some of them receive a monetary reward re-ward for passing on items of information." informa-tion." "Is this a scientific problem something some-thing inside my province? I'm not an ordinary criminal-chaser." "Your reputation, Mr. Magnum, is thoroughly well known to me. That is why I am here confiding in you. Whether the matter haB a scientific bearing or no, I cannot at present say. It is extremely mysterious. I suspect some new scientific discovery criminally criminal-ly applied. The modern criminal goes to science for his weapons." "The crux of the matter?" demanded Magnum abruptly. ' must first explain the system under which we work," replied Pleydell, Pley-dell, who was accustomed to having people peo-ple listen to him with deference; and he proceeded to expound in great detail. Eventually he came to the point: "Box No. 213, on the third row of the' right-hand side, is rented by a Mr. Michaelis, dealer in precious stones. He has used it for many years. On Wednesday of last week he entered the vault with a client of his, a Paris dealer, and deposited a valuable pearl necklace. The operation was seen by our commissionaire, Collinson, in whom I have hitherto placed great confidence. On Tuesday of this week, Mri Michaelis and his clients again repair re-pair to the vault to take away the necklace, and find or allege that they find it missing. Between those dates neither of the dealers has entered the vault, according to the evidence of both the commissionaire and the secretary. sec-retary. I cannot suppose that both of our staff would lie over such a matter. They have comfortable positions, and I can see no reason why they should jeopardize their ' livelihood. " "Michaelis has the only key to 218?" "Decidedly." "A criminal might have got an impression im-pression of that key, made a duplicate, dupli-cate, rented a box near to 218 and opened 218 as if it were his own." "Collinson watches everyi access to the strong-boxes. That is in the routine rou-tine of his duties.'-' "Routine is always liable to suffer! from temporary aberration of mind. "I "But each box is prominently marked in white with its number, and Collinson Col-linson accompanies every caller inside in-side the vault and stands " near to him while he opens a box. My lifelong experience has given me, I venture to think, more than a little knowledge of human nature, and I do not believe that Collinson would let himself be tricked in such an obvious manner." Magnum sniffed. He took no secondhand second-hand opinions from anyone. "Science exhausts the obvious before it proceeds pro-ceeds to the abnormal," he remarked sententiously. "Further," clinched Pleydell, "no box near to 218 has been newly rented within the past four months." , "What is your liability toward a renter? ' ' saked the scientist abruptly. "There is no definite liability on tne part of the company. But what I fear is that Mr. Michaelis will make a public pub-lic notification of his loss, and this would very seriously affect the reputation reputa-tion of the safe deposit. Confidence in us would b shattered." "Naturally. And meanwhile you're trying to keep him from shouting. Has ho asked you to make good the loss of the necklace?" "Not precisely, as yet, but I can foresee such a claim on his part." "Pay up, or public scandal. And you want rue to devise an explanation for Caesar's wife?" Magnum was not greatlv interested in the case, which seemed on the face of it an ordinary criminal matter, and he did not care whether Fleydel took offense at his words or not. i But this off-bandedness had the effect ef-fect of. increasing the director's cager- i ness to hjive Magnum solve the mys- ! torv. "I want the truth," he replied, "and, with vour acument and specialized special-ized knowledge, I believe you can give it to me. I myself have exhausted all the ordinary explanations." "Including chicanerv on the part of j this jewel merchant? 1 "I make no allegation," answered Pley- 1 dell with characteristic caution, "yet 1 have thought over that possibility very seriously. t cannot see how fraud if fraud there were has been carried through." Unlike the usual scientist, Magnum was an excellent man of business. "Well," he responded brusquely, "I see nothing In this case, so far. butordtnary police work. I'd better warn you that means a heavier fee than usual." 'I fail to follow you." i "If you asked Sargent to paint you an advertisement for bottled stout, you couldn't expect to get it for less than a double foe, could you?" The remainder of the Interview waa barter. Magnum's first procedure was to call at the Holborn safe deposit in the char-, acter of a would-be renter of a strongbox, strong-box, in order to observe the normal frequence fre-quence of events. He found tlmt they corresponded exactly to the abundant details de-tails given by the managing director. He then revealed himself abruptly as the investigator, producing a signed authorization. authori-zation. Collinson. the commissionaire, a conspicuously con-spicuously honest-looking old soldier with a row of service medals across his left breast, went pale at Magnum's words. "This affair will ruin me, sir." he muttered. mut-tered. "I shall never Ret another job if I'm discahrged from here." "Not if you tell me frankly all you know and g'et the mystery straightened," returned Magnum with a sudden kindliness. kindli-ness. "I told everything to Mr. Pleydell. Eir every single thing I know! I haven't an idea how a rohbery could possibly have happened." He hesitated for a moment. "And I don't believe it did happen." hap-pen." "Ah! They pocketed the necklace and then claimed it wasn't in the safe?" "That's It. sire. That foreign gentleman gentle-man from Paris." "Or Michaelis." "Well, I wouldn't exactly say that. I've known him coming here for years, and he always seemed to me straightforward." straight-forward." "Bring the secretary ' here," ordered Magnum. The commissionaire hesitated again. "T mustn't leave you in the vault alone," he answered. "Quite right! Then I'll wait in the passage outside the grille." Presently Collinson was back with the message that the secretary must not leave his office. Magnum made no demur to this obedience obedi-ence to rules. He went Himself to the secretary's slip of an office abutting on the eitrance, and began a cross-examination of that formal and tepid official, a young-oldish man of such a colorless and hairless facial aspect that he suggested sug-gested a recent visit to a bleaching tub. In guarded terms, the secretary voiced the same theory as Collinson. He was suspicious of jewel merchants in general. Many of them were a er shady lot, especially men like Mr. Michaelis, who had no office of their own and did business busi-ness in restaurants and on the curbstone. curb-stone. Magnum heard him through without with-out comment, though he knew that this curious method of transacting business was quite usual both In London and In Paris, and that there were offlceless jewel merchants of excellent reputation. In fact, a man who exercises his calling in the public view has necessarily to keep a rein on himself. "Show me your night arrangements and Sunday arrangements," Magnum then asked. The bleached secretary roused himself to a pale semblance of enthusiasm, and demonstrated the treble lockings at nighttime, night-time, the word combination and time locks, the burglar alarms, and the everything proof doorg. He considered the night watchman's post a pure formality. Magnum Mag-num delved minutely into this aspect of the system; examined locks with a powerful pow-erful magnifying glass; sniffed abound like a bound In a covert; sprang surprise questions on the secretary, in whose capabilities capa-bilities he felt no confidence, and in general gen-eral raked the system of the Safe Deposit De-posit with a volley of mental analysis. But he could find nothing on which to grip his teeth. "Where can I see Michaelis?" he finally final-ly asked. The secretary suggested bis Inquiring at the Cafe Leduc. near Hatton Garden. That undistinguished -looking street, the focus of London's trade in precious stones, probably houses more diverse nationalities than any oilier thoroughfare of Bimllar length. The Cafe Leduc, thoroughly continental con-tinental in aspect, is filled at all hours of the dav with inordtnatey shrewd-looking men who sit at small tbree-legeed tables sipping strong black coffee, gulping lager, stirrln? vrupy drinks, casually unrolling wash-leather hands containing jewels of the value of thousands of pounds, and conversing in guarded whispers in half a dozen lan.'uaK'-'S. Masnum ma.ln his way In the brtv touitter .-md inquired for his man. Tite answer was that if hf would sit down and wait, Mr. Michaelis would be sure to turn up eventually. Magnum derided to wait, thouch waiting wait-ing whs not n -specialty of his temperament, tempera-ment, and the super-shrewd, cosmopolitan atmosphere of this jewel exchange rasped ayainst his tastes. Seveial men ;ip-p ;ip-p roar he J his 1 2 h!e jtt vu rious times and Inquired ingratiatingly if he were "In the market" for diamonds or emeralds or sapphires. sap-phires. Magtium froze them. Two hours of the afternoon went by fruitlessly, and with overflowing irritation irrita-tion he was about to pay lijp score and leave when the head waiter brouRht up to the table a well-built man of thirty-odd, thirty-odd, with a neat, dark, elbse-trimmed mubtaehe, a healthy color, a brisk, direct glance, and a decidedly pleasant smile. Mapnum, expecting to meet a crook whom his instincts would at once detect, felt taken abaak. "What can I do for you, sir?" greeted the jewel merchant in the customary formula for-mula of business. Mag-nuui, forgetting his irritation in his surprise, passed across politely enough his letter of authorization from the managing director of the Safe Deposit. Machaelts, looking over wdth a frankness frank-ness which carried no offense, remarked: i "I should not have taken you for a detective." de-tective." "I'm not. I'm a consulting chemist." j "Good! What can I toll you?" ! "Your side of the case." The jewel merchant lowered his voice ; to the customary whisper of the Cafe Le- ! due, hut his words were frank and open. He gave Ills narrative crisply and clearly. Monsieur Antoine, his Paris client, was a jewel dealer of reputation, and however the robbery had been carried out It would bo taken for granted that the Frenchman had no complicity In it. "What's the value of the necklace?" j "Fifteen thousand, roughly." "And if you don't get it back?" i A shadow 'passed over the features j of the jewel merchant, leaving them ! gray and cold like a dead fire. "In j that case," he answered, "I should have' to begin all over again. I should have lost ten years of my life. And there's I a girl I'm engaged to " Down below the hard outer shell of 1 the consultant was a core of human j feelings. - Thes-3 words vibrated within him. I "Pearls are not like cut stones," he remarked sympathetically. "They can't j be disguised by further cutting. If j yours are offered for sale in London i or Paris they would be recognized." ! "Probably shipped out to India or. the far east," returned the jewel mer- j chant with bitterness. "What's your theory of the disappear- i ance?" i "To my mind there's only one possi- ! ble explanation." i "And that is " "The secretary at the Pafe Deposit.' "Your reasons?" "Four pounds a week, or thereabouts, and no prospects. Too much of a temptation temp-tation to be in charge of all those valuables." valua-bles." "And Collinston?" "He always looks to me the essence of honesty. I don't accuse him. But that secretary fellow " He pursed up his lips suggestively. Magnum felt as though be were swimming in a Bea shrouded by mist, with no Indication as to the direction where land lay. His investigations had so far given him no tangible clue whatever. These mutual suspicions were the merest theories. He was outside his own special province. If there were only some scientific fact at which he could grasp and use for a hand hold. His eye caught the glint of a steel chain leading into the jewel merchant's right-hand trousers pocket. "Is that where you keep your keys?" He pointed. "Yes. Where else should I keep them?" Michaelis fished out the chain and showed that It was securely fastened fas-tened at one end. At the other end was a ring with three keys, one obviously obvious-ly a latchkey, the other a bureau key, the third a lock key. "For box 218?" inquired Magnum, pointing point-ing again. "Yes." "Let me see them." He unsnapped his pocket magnifying glass and examined all three minutely. "Looking for wax marks?" suggested Michaelis. "I had thought of that myself. my-self. But there's nothing to he seen." Magnum's face suddenly lighted up with the zeal of the Investigator. "Wrap these keys carefully in tissue paper," he ordered, "and come to my laboratory." "What do you purpose to do with them?" "Nickel plate them." "I don't see the object " But Magnum was already picking up his hat and thrusting a coin toward the waiter. In a small glans tank was a colorless Folution of nickel sulphate. Electric wires led at one end to a rod of pure nickel pendant In the solution and at the other end to hooks, from which the three kevs hung. For over an hour a very tiny current of electricity had been ferrying ions of metHl from the anode of nickel to the kathode formed by the keys. Magnum now removed them carefully, dried them In a gas oven, and showed them one by one to Michaelis. "These two." he. demonstrated, "show the polish of nickel plating all around; but the third key. you note, is plated on one side oniv." "What does that convey?" i "It mean that one side of it hasten pre s-f-er a.u'J-iinst w;i. which lias It-ft -in invisnMe lilm on the m--i(il. Bui H m minute tilm hat been sufiicienl lu retisl 1 1 1 e electric current." "There miht have been grease in my pocket." "Then all three kns would have been affected. No." drdu ed Magnum miiniph-.inl miiniph-.inl ly, "there s Im-cti a wu impre.-sioil taken of your third key." "Hut who . . . ? That secretary fel-, fel-, low?" I "You sit about In cafes with your keys In your trousers pork-t," 1 a sped M.ii:-imin. M.ii:-imin. "What could be simpler fur a 1 liMined pickpocket than to pull them out ! gently, take a wax impression and re-; re-; place tUemV One man buhls you m conversation con-versation while the other does the trick." Michaelis became very thoughtful. He was evidently searching his memory for an occasion when this would have been possible. "Frankly," added Magnum. "I wouldn't trust myself with valuables inside the Cafe Leduc." ! "Wo always have to run risks in the fewel trade." answered Michaelis. "We get calloused. . . . Watt while I think." But eventually he gave up the task of searching his recollections. "One meets and talks with so many men. It's hopeless hope-less to work the case from that end." "Then wo must put your recollections alongside of Colllnson's," said Magnum sanguinely. "If be has recently shown someone Into the- vault who corresponds with someone you've talked business to recently, we're hot on the scent." Thev drove forthwith to the Holborn safe deposit, but found It closed for the day. The night watchman explained that Collinson and the secretary had .iust ffoue. Yes. he knew the commissionaire's address. It was 16 Ethelberta road, Ful-ham. Ful-ham. Magnum and the jewel merchant re-entered their taxi and drove to a row of two-storied brick bouses In the "respected "re-spected poverty" area of Fulham. The cab had evidently outpaced Colllnson's bus or train, for the landlady who opened the door informed them that he had not yet returned from his work. "Is his wife in?" "No. sir, 'e's a widower. I couldn't let you sit In 'is room, but if you'd like to sit in my parlor " She opened, with pride, the door of her state room, reserved re-served foi the local curate and other distinguished dis-tinguished visitors. Then, with the morbid mor-bid curiosity of the lower classes, always ready to put the worst Interpretation on any event, she inquired stdllnply: "I 'ope 'e's not been doing anything wrong, 'as 'e?" "Nothing!" said Magnum firmly. Phe looked a trifle disappointed. " 'E's always been so regular In 'is 'ahlta, but last Thursday when 'e went out for the night and didn't return till Saturday afternoon. aft-ernoon. I kept wondering like what 'ad 'appened to "im." "Did you ask him?" "Ob, no, sir! I knows 'ow to keep myself my-self to mvself." "You say be has always been very regular reg-ular in his habits. Rent punctual?" "Yes, sir." "Drink?" " 'Course 'e goes to the White 'Art of a night like any other man, but I can't say as I've ever Been 'lm the worse for drink." "Women?" "Oh, no, sir! I wouldn't allow eucn a thing in my 'ouse!" A ., A heavy step In the passage outside indicated the return of Collinson. The landlady went out to inform him of the visitors. He seemed surprised to see Magnum and Michaelis, but invited them polltelv to come upstairs to his room a bed-sitting room plainly furnished, but kept with scrupulous neatness and decorated deco-rated with his trophies of former service In India, regimental portraits. Afghan weapons and trifles of native workmanship. workman-ship. ' Magnum had already whispered to the jewel merchant to keep silent and allow him to conduct all the questioning. He began: "I want to compare your recollections recollec-tions of recent callers at the Safe Deposit posit wdth men whom Mr. Michaelis has done business with lately." "Yes, sir, wdth pleasure." "First, you were on duty every day last week and this week?" "Y'es, sir." "Quite sure?" "I've never missed a day for the past two years not a single day." "If you were 111, who would replace you?" , t "Mr. Pleydell would be told, and be would send one of his bank messengers to take my place." Magnum turned to the jewel merchant. "Now give close descriptions of every man or woman you can remember meeting meet-ing during the "three weeks before the necklace was discovered to be missine." It was a lengthy and tedious task. Collinson Col-linson was evidently concentrating bis mind intently, but he could match no recollection rec-ollection against that of Michaelis. Then they tried the reverse way round, the commissionaire endeavoring to describe the callers at the Safe Deposit, and Michaelis Mi-chaelis listening. Nothing tangible resulted. re-sulted. Magnum had meanwhile been observing them both, on the keen watch for some clue. He was forced t the conclusion that thev were both honest men, and both of them eager to have the mystery cleared up. Any lingering suspicion of tlie bona fide of Michaelis vanished, while Colllnson's Col-llnson's truthfulness seemea transparent. Yet the landlady's words reverheratod in Maenum'H subconsciousness, Tie asked abruptly, "You stayed out one nlht last week, didn't you?" The answer came without, hesitation : "Yes, sir. at my brother's house." "And went to work from there, returning return-ing home Saturday afternoon?" "T''.:i l's n ii i t e i "i iit. He I i ves over in I'aniri-n Town, hi it ;is omckcr to go str;tr-'hi (o work from there." "I hit on don't go about of an evening in our uni'nnii ?" "No. sir; I took it with me in a ba. I I went to :,iv the nUht because he was j ill and aUed me To come." i The riii-.; of sincerity ;is in every word j nit. -ted by the coinnosionairc. it was I impossible to dou.-t that he was speak-In; speak-In; the truth. M.-.nuru bad been elated o er his discovery in con net." tion wii h the key. but now disappointment settled upon him. He sighed and rose to leave. Collinson accompanied t hem downstairs to ih-' trout i' nr oi' the house. "Is the not Ii in- more I can tell you, sir?'" Im asked earnestly. - means a great deal '.o me to ha.e this matter cleared up.'" "You might wive me jour brother's ad-d ad-d ress." Collinson took out an old envelope and penciled tlie address on the back. It was a silent drive townward in the taxi. Magnum made no comment on tlie evenins's disappoint men 1 , and the jewel merchant was too tactful to force unwarned un-warned questions. Put nearlng the Strand he ventured to a.k; "What's to be tho next move? Would anything be gained by calling on Collinson's brother?" Mnarnum, for want of a reply, took out the envelope to scan the address written on it. holding the paper close to his eyes In the dim light. Suddenly a faint tinge of some unusual odor tanged his extraordinary keen sense of small. lie sniffed at the envelope en-velope sniffed again bard, rolled, as It were, that infinitesimal fragment of odor on the- sensitive membranes of his nostrils, nos-trils, furrowed his forehead in thought thene ordered the chauffeur to drive to "Woodford square. Camden town. "What have you discovered ?" asked Michaelis easerly. Rut tlie scientist was so absorbed in bis newborn theory of the mystery that tho question passed over him totally unheard. un-heard. The district of Camden town is conw pounded mostly of the sordid and the sinister. Woodford square proved to be an oasis in the deseit, a group of terraced ter-raced houses of a substantial stuccoed mid-Victorian aspect, occupied by teachers teach-ers of music, cheap dentistry exponents, dressmakers and other home businesses. Magnum left the taxi at one, end of th square, ordered It to wait for him, audi walked with Michaelis to No. 23. Ha gave a postman's rat-tat with the knocker, knock-er, knowing that this would always brina;-sooione brina;-sooione speedily in answer. . The door was opened by a young woman pretty, hut sharp featured and with an Indefinable Indefin-able aspect of the rieclassoe. "What do you want?" she asked suspiciously. "Mr. Collinson." answered Magnum. "There's no Mr. Collinson living here.'1 "This is No. 23. Isn't it?" "Yes." "Do you know anyone of that name Ilw ing in the square?" "No." She held the door as though to close it on them. "I must have made a mistake." said Magnum. "Sorry to have troubled you." "Queer!" commented the jewel merchant mer-chant aa they returned toward the- waiting wait-ing taxi. Magnum answered briskly: "I want you to drive to Fulham and bring Collinson-back Collinson-back with you. Meanwhile I'll stay round! here and wait. Don't question him on the wav leave that to me." "Right! I'll hurry." It was over an hour before Michaella returned wdth the commissionaire. Obey-, ing orders, he had entered into no coni versation beyond generallties. Magnum at once took up tho question--: ins: "Your brother Uvea at No. 23,H doesn't he?" Yes, sir; but what do you want mar here for?" "To give exact answers to my ques-' tions!" snapped Mafcnum, 'Ta he- a mani of about your own ago and rather like you in appearance?" "When we were younger wo used to be taken for one another, but now tlm has changed ub a good deal." "There's a young- woman, rather pretty, living at No. 23. Who is she your broth-1 er's daughter, or wife, or what?" Collinson hesitated before answerlngi' "Not exactly his wife." "Now about yourself. Tou cam to 2!fc to stay the night on Thursday evenlnisi last?" "Friday evening, sir." "Thursday, your landlady mentioned." "That's a mistake of hers. I came ori Friday, stayed the night because my,, brother was III and wanted me near him, went to work on Saturday morning, came back here after work, found him veryn much better, and then back to my own room at Fulham." "Were you feeling In rood health on tho Saturday?" "Not very Rood, somehow, air. I bar! a disturbed nlpht, and felt a bit muzzy." "Do you ever taJte chloral for sleeplessness?" sleep-lessness?" "Never!" returned Collinson with genuine gen-uine surprise at the question. "Why should I? 1 sleep sound enouph." "You're positive about Friday and not Thursday?" "Of cotirse I am! I've told you several sev-eral times that 1 only wont to my brother's broth-er's for a sliiKle night." "And ono last question," pursued Magnum, Mag-num, looking at bl in searchinffly, "What does your brother do for a living?" "You'd better ask him yourself," retorted re-torted Collinson resentfully. "That's all 1 want from you," Magnum passed over a sovereign. "This Is to pay your fare buck to Fulham and recompense recom-pense vou for the trouble I've put vott to." The commissionaire hesitated, but decided de-cided to take the coin. "Well?" queried Michaelis eagerly when, thev were alone. "The method of the robbery Is perfectly per-fectly clear now," said Magnum with his air of helng superior to any myatery on eiirth or In heaven. "1 don't nee It." "While you were fetching Collinson, I waited aho'it the square. I eftw Hm brother turtnrlng 2H. There's a striking rcscinl hi nee between tlie two." "Well?" "That's the man who stole your necklace, neck-lace, " returned Magnum with dramatio abruptness. "Hut how on earth " "They d nursed Collinson with chloral. Kept him uik onsclous at 2.'t during 1 h't whole of tho Friday, lie's honestly undr the Impression thai, be was there for one night only; but he was actually there for two nights and a day." Michaelis hud now caught on to thft line of deduction. He joined in: "And on t lie Frhhty t his brot her dressed himself In i 'ollinh.on's uniform " Maxnuni, who preferred to make all deductions de-ductions himself, took possession of thV nncoiliiit; of the chain of events: "And went to bis I lace to the Sate Deposit. Walhed in calmly at the opening hour hi Colliii.-on's uniform. That blenched score.! sco-re.! a rv is a ou)l fool, and be wouldn't have nolice-I tlie difference, Hrainless routlno deadens a man's perceptions. dice in the cominl.-Jslnriulre's place, tho rest was petfectiy simple for the brother. He had merely 10 unlock your stroriK box: a: some iuit hour ol Die day, and pocket ' vom necklac"." "Hut how would he get the duplicate of ' my key':" "Probably he was not the one, who took tlie wax bupropion. I sufpeet an orEiin-' orEiin-' ie of th' -n a man with brains to plan, a nifni win hands to M't the key. and a man with a lucky revenihlance t K t inside tlie vault. ( liven a pu usable, disguise, the rc-t was cuild's play." "Of ionise; Kiit you're a marvel to haw- in. i a e.ed it so quickly!" exclaimed Mo-l io iis gratefully. "Now to Ket the po- I "f-'iivi lu pleydell." amended Magnum. !";.- co'iiosh :-ion is from bini, lies nat-iii;i;)v nat-iii;i;)v aiiMous in avoid publicity, and I in .st h.iw to h;in anv further steps." "Mv neckbK-e ,n;iV p.; ;,t Number 23 at I hi ver v moment !" "It ma v. Wherever ii Is, we'll Ket it i a k sine eiiouuh. Don't worry any fur-t:ier. fur-t:ier. f you'll take my advice, you'll - r.: :ul)t to .he o..n' lady you're engaged lo and-- ' pnl Mir -lao-hs needed no prompting on thai aspct of the chsc. 4 |